Young actress Sophie set for stage success

A young actress is heading south for to appear in a new musical this summer.

Sophie Melville has won a place at the Youth Music Theatre’s (YMT) residential course and will take part in two weeks of workshops and rehearsals ahead of performing in The Bachelor Girls for two nights.

Sophie, 13, who attends Highfield Humanities College, is hoping to secure local sponsorship to help cover the fees for the course in Plymouth as she trains in writing, composing and choreography alongside performance preparation.

She won her place after a workshop at The Lowry theatre, with assessments in singing, dance and acting. More than 1,000 apply for places with YMT each year with around 10 per cent being successfully cast in nine productions up and down the country during the summer.

Sophie, from South Shore, said: “I’m really excited. I have always, from a young age, wanted to be an actor and being on Coronation Street is my goal. It’s made my dream come true to be in the Youth Music Theatre UK.”

Sophie attends ‘triple threat’ classes at Blackpool’s Scream Theatre Schools, and has been in Blackpool and Fylde Children’s Pantomime, winning a youth NODA award for her role as the Mirror in their production of Snow White in 2011.

She was also the youngest finalist in last year’s Fylde’s Got Talent contest.

Proud mum Annmarie said: “She’s won quite a few awards with Scream too.

“They’ve given her a lot of support and she’s excelled there. She started there after being in Snow White and Aladdin with the children’s pantomime.”

Sophie and her mum have set up a fund-raising website to collect sponsorship to the experience, at www.gofundme.com/sophieymt, with a three-minute video showing some of her achievements so far.

Youth Music Theatre is a charity and provides bursary funding for part of the course fees, which cover tuition with industry professionals, accommodation and food.

The Bachelor Girls, at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth, is a new musical by Caroline Wigmore and Jennifer Green, set in London in 1918, where a group of teenage girls are rethinking their future at the end of First World War.